(The following is the October 17 devotional from my Next Step Devotions book. Before reading it, I suggest you read Hebrews 3 and pay close attention to verses 7-15.)

Did you ever delay obeying your parents as a child when they said to clean your room, finish your homework, do your chores, or eat your food? Perhaps you also delayed responding to instructions from teachers, bosses, or other authority figures. Delaying obedience to earthly authorities may or may not be a matter of life and death. However, it’s still a matter of discipline, respect for authority, and living in a way that contributes to orderliness and getting things done.

Delaying obedience to God, however, can be a matter of spiritual life and death for us and others we can impact for the cause of Christ. God has spoken volumes to us through his written Word. In the Bible, we have instructions from him that none of us come close to exhausting. If we are wise, we obey God’s commands immediately. We jeopardize our walk with Christ and our potential impact for God’s kingdom when we delay obedience to him.

Paul told the Corinthians, “Now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation!” (2 Cor. 6:2). Hebrews expresses this same urgency:

• “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts” (vv. 7-8).
• “But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception” (v. 13).
• “As it is said: Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts” (v. 15).

Spurgeon’s thoughts on the subject are straightforward:

• “Every command of Christ bears today’s date. If a thing is right, it should be done at once. If it is wrong, stop it immediately.” *
• “Duties that are put off tend to harden the heart.” **

Next Step:
What commands from God’s Word have you delayed obeying? What step of obedience can you take?

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* CSB Spurgeon Study Bible, ed. Alistair Begg (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1644.

** Ibid.